History of The County Cricket Championship

The County Cricket Championship is the premier first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and was formed in 1890 after several decades of unofficial championships.

Here are some of the highlights of the County Cricket Championship competition's history:

1890 The first official championship was played and contested by 8 counties: Gloucestershire, Kent, Lancashire, Middlesex, Nottinghamshire, Surrey, Sussex and Yorkshire. The first winners were Surrey.

1891 Somerset joined the County Cricket Championship.

1895 Five more counties joined the County Cricket Championship, Derbyshire, Essex, Hampshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire. Each side had to play a minimum of 16 matches per season.

1896 Yorkshire recorded the highest ever score in the Championship with 887 against Warwickshire at Birmingham.

1899 Worcestershire joined the County Cricket Championship.

1905 Northamptonshire joined the County Cricket Championship.

1907 The lowest ever score in an innings in the Championship was scored by Northamptonshire against Gloucestershire at Gloucester when they made 12.

1910 The highest ever ninth wicket partnership was recorded by J Chapman and A Warren scoring 283 runs for Derbyshire against Warwickshire at Blackwell.

1920 Percy Fender scored the fastest timed 100 for Surrey against Northamptonshire at Northampton.

1921 Glamorgan, the first county outside of England joined the County Cricket Championship.

1922 Hampshire recorded the shortest ever innings in first-class cricket by balls received, when they were dismissed by Warwickshire for 15 in 53 balls.

1932 Hedley Verity recorded the best ever bowling figures in a first-class match innings taking 10 for 10 for Yorkshire against Nottinghamshire at Leeds.

1938 The fastest timed 50 was scored by CIJ Smith for Middlesex against Gloucestershire at Bristol.

1949 Middlesex and Yorkshire were the first joint winners of the County Cricket Championship.

1952-8 Surrey won the first of seven consecutive County Cricket Championship titles.

1965 CC Inman scored a 50 in 8 minutes for Leicestershire against Nottinghamshire but this does not count as a record since the bowling was considered contrived.

1988 Four day matches were introduced into the County Cricket Championship

1992 Durham became the 18^th first class county to join the County Cricket Championship.

1994 Brian Lara broke the first-class world record for most runs scored in a single innings scoring 501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham at Edgbaston.

2000 A key year in County Cricket Championship history as the championship was split into two divisions of 9 based on the previous season's standings. Promotion and relegation was 3 up and 3 down.

2001 Yorkshire won their 31^st title.

2003 Sussex won their first County Cricket Championship title.

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